Tips for buying used Vinyl needed

There is a lot of great advice on this thread:

I completely agree with Audiofeil's advice on visual ratings. Even with great sellers, you can get the occasional dud that looks great.

If you are trying to buy more collectible, i.e. expensive records, find a few sellers you trust and establish a good relationship with them. When you get the occasional dud, a good seller will graciously allow a return.

Box sets, especially classical sets, are often rarely played and usually offer great value.

Certain record labels offer consistently great sonics, others not so great. It pays to do a little research before bidding.

Know whether or not you are getting a first pressing (which typically sound better and are more valuable). It pays to recognize the labels, producers, etc.

A good record cleaner is a must.

Good luck. Finding great old records is the one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby.

Visually inspecting the LP surface is very important.
The shimmering of the grooves when tilting the LP surface bouncing the light off can tell you if an apparent mark affects the groove. If the groove shimmer well with no interruptions, the mark does not affect the groove. You can see the interruption in the grooves sheen, forget that LP.
Don't bother with LPs that have sctatches. Billions of LP out there, and scratched ones are not worth the bother. (Exceptions are great Jazz, original early pressings of famous stuff..)
Avoid the super shiny LPs. Someone just sprayed them with some Tire shine or other crap. They are super shiny, so You can get to know the look. Once you see one, you'll know what I mean. Even really crappy worn out records superficially look good when 'shined up'.
Warped used records are pretty rare, but if wondering if an LP is not perfectly flat, Hold up edgewise and line up with a straight surface, a corner of the room, then rotate the LP 90 degrees and check again. Dish warps you can see that the LP has a bulge. Skip warp and dished Lps
A few brands have a natural dullness. Telefunken comes to mind as the dullest natural finish.
Watch for tiny pinpricks in LPs. They are some of the worst failings, and can rip the diamond right out of the cantilever. (I can only think it happens in an earthquake? or done deliberately.. I got several that way from eBay and stopped buying from eBay because of that. The flaw is usually just a bunch of needlepricks. Hard to see, but very bad.)
The stench of bad smelling LPs (ONLY if you REALLY want it, can be ameliorated with FreBreeze. Spray the FreBreeze on a cloth, and wipe the cover inside and out. Not too wet, and repeat. The smell can be really cut down, but not totally eliminated.
LPs surfaces where one can see where some sort of growth was washed offf: forget it for cheap LPs. Great Jazz maybe if the seller has a return policy. LPS with mold on the LP surface I skip, period. Eventually one will buy some LPs that have invisible black mould. This will take over you liife if you have a damp living area, so be aware if you live in a basement or like, as buying used LPs in a humid area, or where folks have basements... you ARE gonna get it eventually buying used LPs. Using outer sleeves really is the lifesaver here. Using outer sleeves can really cut the problem by 90% or better. (So this is mostly for folks in damp conditions.)
Nearsighted folks have a real advantage in inspecting LPs. I have a focal point about 5 inches, sans correction, and use it to inspect LPs!
When one starts, the temptation is to buy anything remotely interesting. that is fine, but realize an LP with ANY mark is worth only half of a pristine one, and a number of marks a LOT less. Newbies forget this and spend way to much for damaged LPs. But eventually after your collection grows, you can get fussier.
The most important is to find good sources for used LPs. Going to hellhole places to search fruitlessly is a waste of time. (Goodwill comes to mind: I used to search at Goodwills. I never bother anymore.) better to travel further and find good sources. Larger town are better, and big metro areas are usually a gold mine for used LPs.
Asking another Lp hunter for good sources is hard. I do NOT tell folks where I go.. sorry, I want them for myself!

Hey, Elizabeth, thanks for relating all those good details that I was too lazy to write about!

Using Fabreeze is a new one for me. Gotta try that!

via mailorder, you have to get a feel for how each vendor grades, as it is somewhat subjective. Especially if they only grade "visually", which is sometimes useless. Then buy more from those with whom you have a positive experience.

I hate cleaning records. It is slow and noisy, but essential.

We have regular record shows at cities throughout southwestern ontario pretty much evry few weeks all year round. One vendor, whose stuff generally looks really pretty good tend to drop his prices to a buck for anything around 2 in the afternoon to reduce his load goin home. It never fails, about half the stuff I pick up there (its a real shame because I have had some really good finds)tends to have a huge amount of surface noise. I clean them with my vpi before playing. I'm guessing that he cleans them with something too harsh. There is nothing untoward about the appearance. I have had some really great finds at flea markets, thrift shops and record shows. It's all part of the fun of this hobby. I think I have added nearly 2000 used lps to my collection over the past few years. Used good jazz is harder to find but some of the newer Bluenote rereleases are great.